Sick Day
by 2queens1prince
Summary: The little McCords take care of a sick Eizabeth.
1. chapter 1

Tumblr prompt: The Little McCords try to look after a sick Elizabeth.

Hope you enjoy!

"Ok, girls, let's get this room picked up a little bit," Elizabeth said to her daughters. Seven year old, Stevie, ushered her almost three year old sister, Allison, to the pile of Legos in the middle of the floor.

"You pick these up and I'll pick up the dolls, okay?" Stevie asked.

"No! I not pick up Legos." Ali yelled, putting her hands on her hips to show she was serious about it.

Stevie looked over to her mother, who was rubbing her head with her thumb and index finger. Stevie looked at Allison and spoke quietly, "You see mama? She doesn't look like she feels good." Ali scrunched her eyebrows together.

"Mama sick?" Ali asked, suddenly very concerned.

"Maybe. Remember Mama didn't go to work today because Miss Janie is sick. Maybe Miss Janie gave Mama her sickness bug."

"Oh no!" Ali whispered, wide eyed.

"Let's make Mama feel better. What do you say Ali?" Stevie challenged.

"I be good nurse." Ali promised.

"Okay, first we need to clean up this room so that Mama will take us upstairs and we can get her to lay down. Can you help me?"

"Girls, I said you need to pick up your toys. In five minutes it will be quiet time in your room." Elizabeth finished that thought muttering, "And I could really use some quiet time myself."

"Yes, Mama," they both said in unison Right away, the girls got to work picking up the toys and had everything done in record time.

"Thanks girls," Would the two of you head up to your room and Stevie, could you turn on the CD player? The story from yesterday should be ready to go if you just hit play."

Both girls ran over and hugged Elizabeth. "Mama, you lay down too?" Ali asked.

"Yes Noodle, I think I'm going to rest too. I have a little headache." Stevie noticed that her cheeks were pink and her eyes seemed tired.

"Let's go Ali." Stevie said. "Don't worry Mama. I got this covered," Stevie called out from the top of the stairs.

"Thanks Stevie," Elizabeth replied weakly. Her head was killing her. She glanced at the clock on the wall and tried to think about how her afternoon might go. "Okay. It's 1:30. Jason has been down for about 20 minutes. I probably have another hour before he wakes up. Yes, I'm going to take some cold medicine and lay down." Elizabeth trudged up the stairs wondering why they didn't buy the ranch style house that only had one level.

Fifteen minutes later, Stevie peeked into her parents' bedroom. Elizabeth lay across the bed, snoring softly. Stevie smiled. Gently pushing the door open just enough, she slipped through the crack and tiptoed to the nightstand on Elizabeth's side of the bed. There sat Jason's baby monitor. Stevie turned the volume dial down until it read zero and smiled to herself. Sneaking back out of the room, she whispered to Ali, who miraculously was still standing silent in the hallway. "I turned off the baby radio, so now we just have to take care of Jason when he wakes up."

"I take Jay Jay downstairs," Ali said.

"Uh, I don't think Mama would like that." thinking back to just a couple weeks ago when Elizabeth finally let her hold 9 month old Jason on the couch by herself while Elizabeth stepped into the other room to get a diaper. "Let's go downstairs and get Jason a bottle and some snacks for when he wakes up. If we keep him quiet, Mama will sleep longer."

"Yea!" Ali shouted, but Stevie clamped her hand over Ali's mouth.

"We need to keep Jason and Mama asleep."

"I forgot," Ali said sheepishly.

"Come on. You can help warm the bottle." The two girls went to the kitchen and pulled a bottle from the refrigerator. "Miss Janie puts Jason's bottles in warm water so they aren't cold," Stevie instructed.

Together, the two girls pulled a chair over to the sink and climbed up standing side by side turning on the hot water. "So you wait until the water just gets warm and you fill the cup, just like Miss Janie." Stevie had watched this process hundreds of times since Jason was born. "And you set the cup right here and Ali you can put the bottle in." Ali dropped Jason's bottle in and the water overflowed all over the counter.

"Uh oh," Ali said.

"Here's a towel. It's ok. Just some water," Stevie said. "What kind of snack should we get Jason?"

"Jay Jay like o's," Ali said triumphantly, proud to know her baby brother so well.

"Good idea. Let's put some Cheerios in a bowl to take upstairs."

Ali yawned, "Stevie. I tired."

"Ok. Do you want to go snuggle up with Mama and hep her sleep?"

"Uh-huh." Ali scampered off across the living room and up the stair to her parents' bedroom. "Mama, I sleep with you?"

Elizabeth opened one eye, not even having the energy to look at the clock. "Sure Noodle. Come here." She tucked her youngest daughter in next to her and pulled the comforter from the top of the bed and draped it over both of them. "Go to sleep baby."

Stevie peeked in at the two later and quietly giggled. They were both sleeping. It was then that she heard Jason talking in his crib. Quietly she shut her parents' bedroom door and ran downstairs to get the bottle and snack. When she opened Jason's door, he was standing at the end of the cribbing babbling.

"Hi Jace," she said. Jason almost immediately started whimpering to get out. This was something Stevie hadn't planned on. She tried to figure out how she was going to keep Jason happy in his crib. Jason's whimpers were growing louder and were about to be full blown cries. "Mama probably won't like this," she said and she put her foot in the bottom rail and pulled herself over into the crib with Jason. He giggled loudly. It was only then that she realized that she left the bottle and cereal on the floor. Out she climbed and landed with a hard thump, eliciting giggles from Jason. She shoved the bottle and cereal through the slats in the crib and crawled back over. More giggles. Stevie decided that if worse came to worse she could just climb in and out of the crib to entertain Jason until their father got home.

A while later, Allison woke up under a hot and sweaty Elizabeth. Ali squirmed out from underneath her and ran into her bedroom to get her doctor's kit from the toy box. "I be good nurse," she said, running back into the bedroom. Elizabeth was still in a cold medicine induced sound sleep.. Ali stuck a bandaid in her hair and wrapped the toy blood pressure cuff around her wrist. Listening to her heart proved a little tricky since she was turned on her side curled up in the comforter. Ali improvised and checked her heart on her shoulder and decided she was fine. "Mama need juice, then feel better," Ali said, sliding off the side of the bed.

Henry walked through the door of his house and did a double take. It was well after 4 PM and there were no kids running to tackle him, no wife to welcome him, not even a screaming baby and a desperate hand off. Nothing. Then he heard it, the sound of the kitchen chair scooting across the floor. Walking into the kitchen through the completely clutter free living room, he stepped into the kitchen and was taken back by the sight. Ali had the refrigerator door open with the kitchen chair pushed up to it and was struggling to get the orange juice carton out of the shelf in the door.

"Hey Noodle, let me help you with that," he said, taking the carton from her and setting it on the counter. "What are you doing?"

"Mama need juice to feel better. Noodle get Mama juice."

"Where is Mama? And Stevie and Jason?"

"Mama bed. Stevie Jay Jay in Jay Jay's bed. I be good nurse to Mama." Mentioning it brought her back to her task. Daddy get glass juice for Mama. Please."

Henry nodded, not quite sure what was going on. He filled a cup halfway with the orange juice and replaced the carton in the refrigerator. Putting the chair back under the table, he motioned to Ali. "Let's go upstairs. I'll carry the juice for you, okay?"

"You carry, but I give to Mama." With that, she led him up the stairs. Just as he hit the top step, Henry heard a loud thump followed by Jason's hysterical giggles. He peeked into his baby's room to find Stevie crawling over the rail into Jason's crib. He was just about to reprimand her, but heard Jason's giggle again.

"Sweet baby brother. Do you want me to do it again?" And she climbed back over the rail landing on the floor. Jason giggled harder. "That's so funny, isn't it?" Stevie said, reaching in through the slats. Henry's heart nearly burst.. What a sweet scene!

He crept by the room, to see where Ali had disappeared to. The cup of orange juice was on the nightstand and Ali was back on the bed sitting next to a sleeping Elizabeth taking her blood pressure. "Noodle make Mama feel better. I be a good nurse."

Henry couldn't stifle his chuckle. This had to be the cutest thing he'd ever seen.

Henry crawled into the middle of the bed behind Elizabeth. "Hey babe," he said, rubbing her shoulder. Her eyes started to flutter open.

"Henry? What are you doing here?" Elizabeth tried to rub her eyes but the toy blood pressure bulb flew up, hitting her in the forehead. "What the-?" She looked at her wrist in utter confusion. "What is going on?"

Throwing the comforter off she sat up and immediately grabbed her chest, her breasts extremely full from not having fed Jason after his nap. "What time is it?"

"Whoa! Slow down," Henry said. "It's 4:30."

"What? Where's Jason?" For the first time, since she woke, she noticed Ali sitting next to her.

"Mama feel better? I be good nurse. Took good care of you."

"Yes Noodle, you did," Elizabeth said, pulling the toy off of her wrist. Henry reached up and pulled the band-aid from her hair. "Ow." He smiled.

"Jason's fine. You need to come see this, but don't say anything. Just watch."

Henry pulled Elizabeth to her feet and took her to Jason's doorway, where Stevie was still entertaining him by pretending to fall out of the bed. Elizabeth laughed out loud hearing Jason's giggles and Stevie looked up. "Mama, you feel better? Ali took care of you and I took care of Jason so you could rest."

"Thank you baby girl. I do feel a little better. You were such a big helper." She pulled Stevie close. "You too Noodle," she said, tugging the little girl to her side.

Looking in the crib, she saw the bottle and Cheerios scattered about. "You even gave him a snack. No wonder he wasn't crying. How did I not hear the laughing though?"

"I turned the baby radio off so you could sleep." Stevie admitted and Elizabeth smiled.

"You thought of everything. How about Daddy takes you downstairs and gets both of my big girl helpers a snack?" She leaned into Henry and said, "Would you please take them for a few minutes? Jason's had that whole bottle. There's no way he will nurse now. I'm going to have to pump, or I may explode."

Henry grinned and checked out her chest. "That would be extremely unfortunate. Do you want me to start dinner?"

"That would be wonderful. I love you Dr. McCord." She leaned forward to give him a kiss and he dodged her lips and kissed her forehead.

"You're sick, remember?" He grinned as he picked up Jason. "Let's go kids. Fruit roll ups for my big helpers!" Cheers erupted as Henry led the kids down the stairs.

Fifteen minutes later, Elizabeth joined the family downstairs, thankful for her kind and caring daughters, adorable baby boy and wonderful husband. She just hoped they didn't get sick!


	2. Chapter 2

AN: This isn't really a second chapter to this story, but I received an anon prompt on Tumblr and instead of making it a story of its own, I thought it would work well here, as it had sort of the same theme. Thanks for the reviews on my other recent stories. I love hearing what everyone thinks. Please continue. :)

 **I have a prompt if that's okay. I have a bit of a cold myself and I was thinking one where one of the kids (preferably Jason) has a bad cold and Elizabeth decides to stay home to take care of him.**

Elizabeth could hear the morning chatter as she descended the stairs into the kitchen. "Good morning, guys," she said as she stepped off the bottom step.

"Good morning" came the multiple replies back in her direction.

Henry rounded the island, handing her a travel mug full of coffee. "Good morning, babe," he murmured as he pressed a kiss to her temple. She accepted the cup and grabbed his tie, pulling him down to kiss her lips.

"Where's Jase," she asked, looking around the room. Everyone looked around and shrugged.

"Good luck with that," Henry said as he walked out of the kitchen toward the front door.

"See ya," the girls said, heading the opposite direction.

Elizabeth frowned and set her coffee cup down and headed back up the stairs. She knocked softly on his door and when there was no answer, she peeked her head in. Jason, who was notoriously the most hot-blooded of the family, and had always shunned any type of covering, was now curled up in his comforter with only his head peeking out. The wrinkle in her brow deepened. Gingerly, she reached out to touch Jason's forehead and winced as the heat penetrated her hand.

Elizabeth walked around to the opposite side of the bed and sat down so she could see Jason's face better. Placing her hand on Jason's cheek, she spoke softly. "Hey, buddy, what's going on? How are you feeling?" Jason groaned and covered his face. "Have you taken anything yet?" Jason weakly shook his head. In that moment, Elizabeth was struck by how young he looked, much younger than his 14 years. It pulled at her heart. "I'll be back in a minute." Elizabeth walked out of Jason's room and headed back down to the kitchen and picked up her phone and pressed the home button. "Call Blake," she said, as she fished through the end cabinet looking for the bottle of Tylenol.

"Good morning ma'am,"

"Good morning Blake. Can you tell me what is pressing on my agenda today?"

"Nothing of significant importance." While pulling the Tylenol bottle from the back she knocked another bottle over causing a domino effect through the cabinet sending miscellaneous medications tumbling out onto the granite countertop. Blake asked, "Is everything okay, ma'am?"

Elizabeth was distracted, trying one-handed to round everything up before bottles rolled onto the floor. "It's fine, Blake,* she said. "Jason isn't feeling well. I think it's just a cold, but he doesn't get sick very often, so I'm going to stay home with him today. Let me know if anything major comes up and I'll come in."

"Yes ma'am," Blake replied immediately. * I hope Jason feels better soon.

"Thanks Blake. Bye." She laid her phone on the counter and filled a glass with orange juice and dumped two Tylenol into her palm before heading back upstairs.

Elbowing her way into Jason's room, she made her way to the bed and sat down, putting the glass on the side table. Hey Jase. I brought you some medicine to take. It will help with the fever."

Jason grimaced and opened one eye, quickly closing it against the brightness of the room. Elizabeth stood and pulled the curtains. "Now try," she said. Jason opened his eyes.

"What time is it?" he mumbled, struggling to sit up a bit so he could swallow the pills properly.

"Around 8:30," Elizabeth replied.

"Aw, crap. Mom I'm late for school. I have a test today." Jason sat up quickly, scrunching his face up against the pain in his head.

Elizabeth gently pushed him back against the pillow. "And you can make it up tomorrow. You are sick and you're staying home.". She knew just how bad Jason really felt when he relaxed back into the pillow and didn't argue.

"Aren't you late for work?* he asked.

"I called in today. I'm going to stay home with you," Jason's brief look of shock and disbelief pained her and she wondered if it was because he was sick or because he felt like he couldn't count on her to be there for him. Quickly pushing that insecurity away, she spoke. "Lay back down and rest. I'll check on you in a bit."

Elizabeth stepped across the hall to her own room. She slipped out of her work clothes and hung them back up in the closet. She grabbed the black yoga pants and her well worn gray Harvard Law sweatshirt. She pulled her hair up in a messy bun and headed downstairs to do some reading while Jason slept.

Two hours, five briefs, and several texts to Nadine later, Elizabeth rolled her neck and stretched. She hoped the issue that had cropped up with the Hungarians was settled, at least for the time being. She trusted Nadine to take care of it. Standing, she dropped her glasses on the desk and headed up the stairs to check on Jason. Knocking softly on the door, she poked her head inside. Jason stirred. "Hey baby," she said, "Feeling any better?"

"A little," he said. Elizabeth reached out to touch his forehead.

"Your fever broke. That's a good sign." She ruffled his hair. "Why don't you come downstairs and hang out. I'll make some chicken noodle soup."

Jason snapped his head around to look at his mom, with a wide eyed, horrified expression. "Uh, Mom. Uh, that really isn't necessary-uh," he stammered.

Elizabeth rolled her eyes at him. "By make, I mean I'll dump it out of the can and put it in the microwave to warm."

"Oh," he said, grinning, "In that case, I'll happily take a bowl of soup that you made." Elizabeth playfully shoved him.

"Someone must be feeling better. When you were feverish, you couldn't bring yourself to torment me." Jason laughed as she walked out of the room.

The empty soup bowl sat on the ottoman near where Elizabeth's feet were propped. Jason sat in the middle, munching on the remaining saltine crackers. Elizabeth's phone pinged and she groaned when she picked it up. She stood and picked up the bowl, heading into the kitchen to make a phone call.

Jason picked up the remote and scrolled through Netflix attempting to pick a movie, but was listening to his mom's side of the conversation.

"Russell, what did you need?" Jason couldn't make out what the man was saying, but he watched as his mom struggled to turn the volume down to keep her own hearing in tact. "I'm aware Russell." Elizabeth leaned against the island pinching the bridge of her nose between her index finger and thumb. "Yes, Russell. That's exactly why Nadine is setting up the meeting with the Ambassador in the morning." There was more chattering on the other end of the phone and Elizabeth tipped her head back, closing her eyes and let out a slow breath. "Thank you so much for your concern Russell. I'll let you know how the meeting goes. Yes, in the morning. Thank you Russell. Goodbye." She put her phone on the counter and looked over at Jason, who was now leaning over the back of the couch watching his mom.

"If you need to go in, I'll be fine hanging out here. It's okay." Jason said.

"No. It has nothing to do with me being needed there. It's all about Russell Jackson trying to micromanage my job. It's fine. I'd rather stay here with you." She headed back over to the couch. "What are we watching?" she asked and then glanced at the screen. "Jurassic Park 3? Really?"

"Eh, I kind of like the mom in it. She's pretty cool." Jason gave his mom a wide smile.

"A mom who goes to all lengths to save her kid. I suppose I could get behind that," Elizabeth said as she sat down next to Jason, squeezing his arm.

"She reminds me of you, but, don't cut your hair that short. I like it longer." Jason said, pushing the play button, not making eye contact.

"Noted," Elizabeth said, smiling as they started the movie. At some point, Elizabeth got up to get Jason some more Tylenol and by the end, he was curled against her asleep. She watched him for a long time, wondering when exactly it was that he grew up. So often, she still caught herself thinking of him as her sweet, chubby faced baby. Occasionally she saw her clingy four year old or the uncoordinated seven year old. She certainly wished for the stubborn ten year old phase to pass quickly and then regretted it once the obstinate and defiant phase of the twelve year old set in. Now, he was fourteen and had all of the sass that the age demanded of him, but he was also caring and wickedly smart, even if his grades didn't always match his aptitude. She smiled and gently ran her fingers through his dark brown hair. Jason shifted and snuggled in a little closer to her side. These days were numbered.

She let her mind retrieve the look of disbelief Jason had that morning when she told him that she was taking off work to stay with him. Originally she thought it was because he'd grown accustomed to her not being around. Now that she thought about it, the look could have been about that, but perhaps it was something else too. Jason would contend that he was old enough and didn't need babied, but maybe sometimes he still wanted to be loved on, even though he may not need it. These moments would be fewer and farther between. An errant tear escape down her cheek and she quickly wiped it away as she realized this may be it, the last time. Of course she couldn't know that now, but maybe looking back someday she would be happy that she realized this importance of this day. Elizabeth shifted herself a little, tossed the quilt over both of them and let her eyes close.

Henry walked into a quiet house, confused that his wife's motorcade was outside. Going up the front stairs he didn't find anyone and made his was down the back stairs into the kitchen. He furrowed his brow at the mess of medicine bottles still strewn across the end of the counter, the opened soup can and the bowl sitting on the end of the island. Then he took a step closer to the family room and a warm smile spread across his face. Elizabeth and Jason were asleep on the couch. He leaned over and kissed his wife's forehead.

Opening her eyes, she smiled at him. "Did you play hooky?" he asked.

"Jason was sick and he needed me," she whispered. Henry smiled.

"Would he admit to that?"

"I don't think I'll chance it by asking," she said, smirking.

"I'm going to change and I'll start dinner," Henry said softly. He started to back away, but she caught him by the sleeve.

Henry stepped back toward her and she pulled him closer. "I love you," she said, pressing a kiss to his lips.

"I love you too. And I love the family we made," he said.

She smiled, "Yeah, we did good."


End file.
